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Page 1: Cubism - Biographies of Picasso and Brague

CUBISM

T I M O T H Y J A M E S L , Y E A R 8 A R T H O M E W O R K P R O J E C T V I S U A L E S S AY, J U N E 2 0 1 3

Page 2: Cubism - Biographies of Picasso and Brague

Cubism was an early twentieth century avant-garde art movement which revolutionised European painting and sculpture and inspired similar movements in music, literature and architecture. The term has been generally been used in relation to a wide range of arts that have been produced in Paris between 1910s and 1920s.

The art movement was pioneered by artists such as Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso, and has been considered as the most influential art movement in the 1900s. In this type of art, objects are broken up into pieces, examined and are put back together in an abstract form. In cubist artworks, the artist portrays the subject from a number of viewpoints to present the piece in a greater context rather than depicting it from a single viewpoint.

The representation of three-dimensional form in the late works of the artist Paul Cézanne, which was exhibited in a retrospective at the 1907 Salon d'Automne was a primary influence that led to Cubism.

What is

Cubism?1

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Pablo Ruiz y Picasso, known as Pablo Picasso is one of the most influential artists of the 20th century and is widely known for co-founding the Cubist movement, the invention of constructed sculpture, the co-invention of collage, and for the wide variety of styles that he helped develop and explore. He became one of the best-known figures in 20th century art, thanks to his revolutionary artistic accomplishments which brought him universal renown and immense fortune.

The famous Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist and stage designer was born in Malaga in the Andalusian region of Spain on the 25th October 1881 as the son of the painter and drawing teacher José Ruiz Blasco and mother Doña Maria Picasso y Lopez. During his early life, Picasso revealed extraordinary talent in art – throughout his childhood and adolescence he painted in a realistic manner. In 1895, when Picasso was 14 years old he attended the Art Academy La Lonja in Barcelona, where his father also taught, later studying at the Madrid Academy in 1897.

Pablo Picasso’s career began with the painting called The First Communion and the Portrait of Aunt Pepa in 1894. Between 1899 and 1900 he created paintings in a Modernist style that became known because of his influence to the works of Rossetti and Edward Munch.

A biography of

Pablo Picasso2

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In 1900 Pablo Picasso travelled to Paris; at that time the city was considered to be the art capital of Europe. He resided there with Max Jacob, a friend who was a journalist and poet who helped him learn the language and its literature.

Picasso became a favourite to American art collectors Leo and Gertrude Stein. Michael, Leo and Gertrude Steins’ brother, and his wife were also collectors of Pablo Picasso’s work. Picasso’s paintings were more cheerful and were painted using orange and pink colours, during the Rose Period between 1905 and 1907.

The Spanish artist began painting Cubist works in 1907, his early works known as his "Analytic Cubist" works included "Three Women" (1907), "Bread and Fruit Dish on a Table" (1909) and "Girl with Mandolin" (1910). Picasso’s later Cubist works such as "Still Life with Chair Caning" (1912), "Card Player" (1913-14) and "Three Musicians" (1921) move further away from artistic topicalities of the time, creating vast collages out of a great number of tiny, individual fragments and so are distinguished as "Synthetic Cubism"

In 1958, after World War Two Pablo Picasso bought the Castle of Vauvenargues in Provence in France; it became his place of retreat for his aging genius. Three years later he married Jacqueline Roque. Picasso died on the April 8, 1973 in Mougins, France at the age of 91.

A biography of

Pablo Picasso3

Page 5: Cubism - Biographies of Picasso and Brague

Georges Braque was a major 1900s French painter and sculptor. He is known to have developed the Cubism art movement along with the artist Pablo Picasso. He was born in Argenteuil, Val-d'Oise France on May 13, 1882. In his early life, the young French artist moved with his family to Le Havre in 1890. There as young boy he trained to be a house painter and decorator like his father and grandfather, but also learned artistic painting at the École des Beaux-Arts, in Le Havre during the evenings between 1897 and 1899. In 1899 at the Le Havre Art Academy Georges Braque attended lectures; soon after in Paris he apprenticed with a decorator. There he won a certificate in 1902. Furthermore, the next year he attended drawing classes at the school of Batignolles, followed by studying at the Académie Humbert until 1904 – this is where he met Marie Laurencin and Francis Picabia.

Georges Braque’s earliest art works were impressionistic. However, in 1905 Braque adopted a Fauvist style when he saw the work exhibited by the artistic group known as the "Fauves" (Beasts) who were a group that included Henri Matisse and André Derain among others which used bright colours and loose structures of forms to represent emotional response. In 1907 the French artist successfully exhibited his Fauvist style paintings at the Salon des Indépendants together with the Fauves. In the same year he met Pablo Picasso. Soon, Georges Braque’s style started to slowly evolve as he came under the strong influence of Paul Cézanne.

A biography of

Georges Braque4

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Georges Braque began painting in a Cubist style between 1908 and 1913 and his paintings began to reflect his new interest in geometry and simultaneous perspective. In the year 1909 he started to work closely with Pablo Picasso who was painting similar art works; their close co-operation lasted until 1914 when he (Brague) was enlisted in the French army to fight in the First World War.

Brague was severely wounded in World War I. In 1917 he resumed his artistic career moving away from the harsher abstraction of Cubism and painting works which he did not show to the public till 1923. Braque developed a more personal style, characterized by brilliant colour and textured surfaces and—following his move to the Normandy seacoast—the reappearance of the human figure when he worked alone. He also painted still life works keeping his emphasis on structure. In addition, he developed a close friendship with cubist artist Juan Gris.

Throughout the remainder of his life, Georges Braque produced a considerable number of paintings, graphics, and sculptures all filled with a pervasive contemplative quality. Brague died on 31 August 1963, in Paris at the age of 81 and was buried at the cemetery of the Church of St. Valery in Varengeville-sur-Mer, Normandy, whose windows he designed. Moreover, his work is displayed in most major museums all over the world.

A biography of

Georges Braque5

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Woman with a Book, 1932

Weeping Woman, 1937

"Factory, Horta de Ebro" 1909

Pablo Picasso

La Mesa Redonda, 1929

Georges Braque

La Patience, 1942, Oil on canvas

Still Life with Playing Cards, 1913

Head of a Woman, 1909

Violin, 1913

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• Pablo Picasso • Georges Braque • Alexandra Nechita • Paul Klee • Albert Gleizes • Julio González • Auguste Herbin • Jacques Lipchitz • Paul Cézanne • Boris Korolev • David Bomberg • Peter Blume • André Lhote • Francis Bacon • Lyonel Feininger • Eduardo Úrculo • Fernand Léger • Jacques Villon • Alexander Archipenko • Salvador Dalí • Maria Blanchard • Francis de Erdely

A list of

Cubism Artists7

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The 20th century cubist art movement revolutionized and modernized art: it transformed European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In addition, it strongly influenced later art movements including surrealism and Dada. Cubism was the most influential art movement of the 20th century: it challenged conventional forms of representation, such as perspective, which had been the rule since the Renaissance. The art work of the Cubist movement was very abstract – it was the first abstract style in the 20th century. It uses many abstract elements which make art work of the Cubist movement look very colourful and creative. Furthermore, it uses lots of shapes and patterns which make it attractive so it stands out.

My opinion of

Cubism 8

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